National strategy for the circular economy

The National strategy for the circular economy is a national document of Italy. Focussing on eco-design and eco-efficiency, the strategy aims to define the new administrative and fiscal tools to strengthen the secondary raw materials market, the extended producer and consumer responsibility and the diffusion of sharing practices; it seeks to support the achievement of climate neutrality objectives and to define a roadmap of actions and measurable targets for 2040.
Specifically, the new strategy will affect the following areas of intervention: eco-design and product innovation, bioeconomy, blue economy, critical raw materials. It will include the following measures: - a new digital waste traceability system that allows, on one hand, the development of a secondary raw materials market, on the other hand, the control and prevention of illegal waste management; - the development of tax incentive systems to support the use of recycled materials; - a revision of the taxation system that makes recycling more cost-effective than disposal in landfills; - the promotion of the right to reuse and repair; - the reform of Extended Producer Responsibility systems and consortia to support the achievement of the European objectives; - the strengthening of existing regulatory instruments (End of Waste legislation, Minimum Environmental Criteria and the application of those to strategic sectors (construction, textiles, plastics, WEEE); - the support to the development of industrial symbiosis projects, also through regulatory and financial instruments.
Starting from the fundamental contributions of the the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change to drive the transition towards an economic development having among its objectives the social progress and the safeguard of the environment, the Strategy aims at the realization of a circular economy managing natural resources in a more rational and sustainable way and attaining a considerable reduction of greenhouse gases amissions.
Italy has an internal material consumption rate among the lowest in the European countries. This is due in part to the negative international economic situation and in part to the substantial growth in efficiency in the use of resources. Also the production of waste sees a reduction while the waste sorting is increasing.
Starting from a good position in terms of circularity of resources, due to the historical scarcity of raw materials that led to incentivize the saving of the same and the recovery of waste, the Strategy provides for tools, indicators and a monitoring plan to evaluate the progress made in achievement of the objectives. Beside traditional intervention areas (enterprises , industrial areas, supply chains, cities and territory, consumers), the following new areas of interventions are added: - eco-design - blue economy - bioeconomy - critical raw materials.
The Strategy's main points include: - support the implementation of circular economy projects at local and regional level; - create the conditions for a competitive secondary raw materials market in terms of availability, performance and costs; - implement the Extended Producer Responsibility principle as well as the polluter pays principle; - favor the reuse market and the return of products to economic operators; develop a favourable taxation for the transition to circular economy; set the conditions for extending the product life through a design inspired by the principles of modularity and repairability; enhance the research and development in the eco-efficiency sector, improve the traceability of assets and resources throughout their life cycle, define a reliable set of indicators to measure the degree of circularity; - design new consumer education programs and train circular economy experts, by also creating public-private facilities for the development of this new sector; - increase the new generations participation on the themes of the circular economy and the sustainable use of resources through education, training and communication programs; - promote the work participation of women through the dissemination of STEM subjects and the digitization of the production processes.
The Strategy ends with two proposals for action. General Objective A. Closing cycles along the value chain of products and materials. General Objective B. Use and efficient management of resources in urban, industrial and territorial areas